Frogs, Elephants, Necklaces and Flowerpots from Recycled Buttons and Resin, by Greca

Greca is a small design firm from Buenos Aires that makes objects and fashion accessories from recycled buttons and resin. Now, recovering buttons might not seem like much of a merit, but it is when you work right into a buttons factory that discards hundreds of units because they're not good for sale. Put that material with discarded resin from the same factory, and you got yourself a vast amount of plastic that would go into the trash if unrecovered.

Greca was founded by Argentine designers Rocio Gonzalez and Lucas Campodonico. Placed inside a buttons factory, the two get hundreds of buttons that due to a small mark or line cannot make it to sales. The same factory throws away resin while it is still soft to be moulded into objects, so Gonzalez and Campodonico put the two materials together to make these sweet accessories.

We know, nobody likes resin, as it's a material that cannot be recycled, but Greca is already recovering this from the trash since the factory is using it anyway. What are the designers going to do when they can get no more discarded material? They haven't figured that out yet, but argue they get plenty amounts from them so far.

"Nothing can be perfect and we think using trash as a commodity is already a good point to start. At the end of the day no process can be entirely green and we believe just our aim to do something for the environment and to raise awareness in people is positive," says Campodonico.

The firm sells in selected stores in Buenos Aires, through Etsy and through their website; and currently has representatives in Spain and the United States (California). For more, check their website